John patrick o donnell



(No Model.)

J. P. ODONNELL.

APPARATUS FOR WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS AND SWITCHES.

No. 423,878. Patented'Mar. 18, 1890.

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UNITED STATES JOHN PATRICK ODONNELL,

PATENT @rmcn.

OF NEW MALDEN, COUNTY OF SURREY,

ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR WORKING RAILWAY SIGNALS AND SWITCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,878, dated March18, 1890. Application filed September 23, 1889. Serial No. 324,846. (Nomodel.) Patented in England December 15,1888, N0.18,337.

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that 1, JOHN PATRICK ODoN- NELL, a subject of the Queen ofGreat Britain, residing at Shoebury Villa, Penrith Road, NewMalden, inthe county of Surrey, England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in an Apparatus for Working Railway Signals and Switches,(for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 18,337,bearing date December 15, 1888,) of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has reference toapparatus for reducing the number ofworking-levers in the locking apparatus usually inolosed in asignal-cabin; and it consists, first, in arrangements whereby one levermay perform the work usually performed by three levers, either byworking three signals, or three points, or three facing-point locks andbars, or three fouling or other bars.

It is usual at terminal stations, passengerbays, sidings, burg yards,&c., to arrange for one passenger-in signal and one shunt-in signal fromline-say Kto every road that can be entered from line K, and awrong-road shunt-out signal from the same r0adssay E F G H toline K. Itis also usual at the present time to provide a separate set oflevers-say 1 2 3 4t-to work the passengerin signals from line K to roadsE F G H, and a separate set of leverssay 5 b 7 8to work the shunt-insignals from the same lever K to roads E F G H, and, again, a separateset of levers-say 9 10 ll 12to work the shunt-out signals ,from the saidroads E F G H to line K. It thus takes three sets of four levers, eachset practically effecting the same interlocking, twelve levers in all.WVith this invention 1 effect the same result Viz., working the twelvesignals with only four working signal-levers5 but I provide in thisinstance a separate lever, which I term a setting or king lever.

I will describe my apparatus for effecting my invention.

Figure 1 is a single line sketch of a line of railway leading into fourpassenger or other bays or platforms. K is the one main line forentering these four bays E F G H. The four arm semaphore stop signalmarked 1 2 3 4. represents the four passenger stopsignals for enteringthe four passenger-lines from line K. The four-arm shunt-disk signalmarked 1 2 3 4 represents the four inshunt signals from line K into theplatforms E F G H. The four disk-signals l 2 3 4 represent the fourshunt-out signals from lines E F G H, respectively, to line K.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the application of my apparatus to work thevarious signals, hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 1. InFig. 2, 1 2 3 4 5 represent the arms of the rocking shafts worked bylevers l 2 3 4 5, respectively. 1 2 3' 4! 5' are a set of five rockingshafts, similar in design and purpose to those commonly used inrailway-signal work. As is well known, each of these shafts has twoarmsfor instance, in lever 1 the arm 1 previously referred to, and thearm 1", working the selector-bar. Each of the levers 1 2 3 4 works inconnection with one three-throw machine, the slide-bars of which aremarked a b 0, together with the number of the lever. The selector-bar ofeach is shown normallyw engaged with the middle blade-that is, the Bposition. All the selector-bars 1 2 3 4 have a bearing in and areactuated right and left by an actuating-bar, moved by setting-lever 5through rocking shaft 5 and cranks 5 5". The crank or rocking-shaft arm5 is attached to lever 5 by a downright connection, as in Fig. 5. Theends of the signal-blades of each three-throw machine are connected,respectively, a to passenger-semaphoreqn signal, I) to a shunt-outsignal, and c to a shunt-in signal. When the signal-man requires tosignal a passengertrain-say, into platform Ghe would move hissetting-lever 5 into the A position, thereby actuating arms 5 5, rod 5,crank 5*, and actuating-rod 5, thereby moving the selectorbars 1 2 3 4out of gear with blades 1 2 3 4 respectively, and into gear withsignalblades 1 2 3 4.. Now, when he actuates his lever 2, which refersto platform G, the signal slide-bar 2 would be drawn, thereby deflectingthe third arm 2 in the semaphorepost. Similarly, by moving thesetting-lever to the 0 position, the selector-bars 1 2 3 4 would bemoved out of gear with blades 1 2" 3 4t and into gear with blades 1 2 34. Upon the signal-man again working any of the levers 1 2 3 i, he woulddeflect a shuntin signalthat is, one of the disks on the four-armshunt-in disk part.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the threethrow machine.

Fig. l is a sectional side view of Fig. 3, showing the relative heightsand modes of engagement of the various blades.

Fig. 5 illustrates the three positions of the setting-lever 5, the B ormiddle position being, preferably, the normal one. This, however, isentirely a matter of choice.

I do not bind myself to the precise method shown of carrying theselector-bar for instance, the top maybe open and the selectorbar laidin instead of threaded through. It is obvious that the usual verticaland horizontal cranks may be substituted for the rocking shafts as thelead-oif connection from the tail of the lever to the three-throwmachine. In the particular example referred to I prefer to fix mymachine as described, under the tails of the levers, or at anyconvenient position in the signal-box. If desired, however, it may befixed at any suitable spot on the ground.

Although I have described a setting-lever as the means of actuating theselector-bar, as 1 into and out of gear with the signal-slide bars 1 1"1, yet I may sometimes make a point or other working lever perform thisduty, or I may arrange for two other working-levers to actuate 1 bymeans of crossroad connections, one actuating it from a middle positionto the left, and the other from a middle position to the right, and viceversa.

My apparatus may be fixed on the ground adjacent to the facing andtrailing points of a junction, especially a three-way junction, and maywork the three-junction stop-signals in facing direction by one lever,and by the point-levers, and the trailing stop-signals by another lever,and the corresponding distant in both directions by two more levers.This form of my apparatus is also suitably adapted for workingsiding-signals, and is, in short, intended to act where any three ormore separate performances are required, only one of which can beperformed ata time with safety.

WVhat I claim is- 1. The combination, with three parallelsignal-operating bars, such as 1 1 1,of a selector-bar, such as 1arranged substantially parallel with the said three bars, normallyconnected to one of them and adapted to move it longitudinally, and atransverse sliding bar 5 engaging with the said selectorbar and adaptedto move it out of connection with the bar with which it normally engagesand connect it in a similar manner with either of the two remainingbars, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with the three parallel signal-operating bars 1 1"1, of the selectorbar 1 arranged substantially parallel with the saidthree bars, and normally connected to the middle bar, the rock-shaftprovided with the arm 1 and an arm 1, connected to the selector-bar formoving it and the signalbar connected to it longitudinally, thetransverse bar 5 engaging with the said selectorbar, and the hand-leveropcratively connected to said transverse bar, whereby the selector-barmay be slid transversely out of connection with the said middle bar andconnected in a similar manner to either of the two remaining bars,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN PATRICK ODONNELL.

Vitnesses:

J OHN ALFRED DONNISON, ALFRED DONNISON.

